Track Athletics in Detail (extract)

32 TRACK ATHLETICS IN DETAIL to them. The general training for a hurdler should be about the same as that for the 100 and 220 yard dashes. After three weeks of this kind of preliminary work, the high hurdles may be placed in position, and the hurdler may try going over the whole dis­ tance on time; but he should never attempt this - ( FIG. I more than once or twice a week, doing his daily work over not more than three hurdles. There are two things of vital importance for the hurdler to work at in order to acquire speed: he should drive himself as fast as he can go from the crack of the pistol until he stops running, andeach hurdle should be rushed at as if it were the last. Speed between the hurdles is of the utmost importance. The secret of obtaining this lies in starting the foot which has crossed last over the hurdle forward for the first step before the forward foot has reached the ground, thus making the first step after the jump a very short one, yet a very quick one. This is a difficult movement to learn, but the athlete will find that it will lower his time perceptibly if he can master it. The instinctive act upon landing after the leap is to take a long stride forward with a view to covering distance.